By Omoniyi Salaudeen
A call has gone to Governor Douye Diri to as a matter of urgency commence an immediate implementation of the report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC) put in place by his predecessor to proffer a veritable remedy for the existential threat facing the oil communities in the state due to the unregulated oil exploration activities by the multinational companies.
This message was contained in a press briefing held at MUSON Centre, Lagos, by a coalition of Ijaw interest groups, to draw global attention to the plight of the people of the Niger Delta region as well as the devastation of their environment.
The Secretary, Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF), Lagos, Pastor Efiye Bribena, who read the joint statement on behalf of the Coalition, cited toxic waste, water, and air pollution, incessant oil spillages and continuous gas flaring, among others, as some of the issues constituting a threat to the lives of people of Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta region as a whole.
Making further reference to a section of the report which put the number of infants killed by pre-natal exposure to oil spills within a month of birth at 16,000, he warned that the people could ultimately resort to self-help if nothing was done to urgently address the situation.
“In some locations, toxic contaminants such as chromium are present in the groundwater over 1,000 (one thousand) times the World Health Organization’s limit for safety.
“In addition to the alarming data for gas flaring in the State, the report also quotes research that puts at 16,000 the number of infants killed by pre-natal exposure to oil spills within a month of birth.
“These indices of pathology are a threat to the continued existence of the Ijaw indigenous nationality and the physical integrity of our homeland, and could therefore provoke any affected population into self-help where the governments, regulators, and justice systems that should secure and rescue them have either failed them or in some cases appear to be in collaboration with the genocidal polluters,” the group stated.
While applauding the launch of the long-awaited report, the group tasked the State and Federal Governments to swing into action and commence an immediate remediation programme for decades of environmental degradation and other socio-economic challenges confronting the people. “The urgent and faithful implementation of its recommendations is what will indeed show a commitment to achieve the intended objectives and crystallize the huge significance of the Report,” it added.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the Coalition groups, Denzil Amagbe Kentebe, declared the environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region as unacceptable, calling for an urgent action. “What we are doing here today calls for urgent action. And I hope that those that are responsible, the state government, the Federal Government, the IOCs and the international community will see this as a challenge. If not, we know what to do,” he warned.
All participants at the roundtable unanimously stressed the need for collective action as well as global intervention to arrest the environmental disaster that had turned the entire Niger Delta region into a wasteland.